Incumbent's Decision Not To Run Opens Up Race

Democrat Jortner Makes Another Bid

BERLIN — This fall, Fred Jortner is making his second attempt at jumping from being a local politician to holding a state office.

Jortner, a Democrat, is running for the 30th House District seat, which is being vacated by Rep. Ann Dandrow, R-Southington.

He ran unsuccessfully against Dandrow in 2000. After that, he had no plans to challenge Dandrow again.

``I received 45 percent of the vote in 2000, but it was an uphill battle all the way, and with more of Southington in the district now, running against Ann would be an even steeper battle now,'' Jortner said. ``But when she stepped down the race became more competitive.''

Jortner was active with the United Way and the Central Connecticut Association of Retarded Citizens before getting into politics. He was elected to the town finance board in 1990 and to the town council in 1995. He got off the council after two terms.

``Fred has shown he's dedicated to helping people, and he's willing to run for office. Not many people are willing to do that,'' said Charles Warner, Berlin Democratic town committee chairman.

Jortner said he hopes he can work on education, health care and transportation issues if elected and would work on ways to remedy the growing shortage of nurses and teachers in the state. He said he would also work to get more state funding for local education, as well as find ways to make prescription drugs more affordable for senior citizens.

Locally, Jortner said, he would concentrate on completing the Silver Lake dredging project, which has been in the works for more than 10 years.

The Republican candidate, Robert Peters, has been touting himself as someone who would be a full-time state representative. Democrats scoffed at the suggestion that being able to work full-time is an advantage.

``That's ridiculous,'' Warner said. ``If you followed that logic then the only people you could have in the legislature would be retirees and rich people. And the legislature is intended to be for people of all backgrounds.''

Jortner works at Otofina Chemicals in Berlin. He said he could take the time off he needed to serve in the legislature.

While Republicans have presented a united front behind Peters, Jortner distanced himself from some Democrats during the winter by supporting Donald DeFronzo in the bitter fight for the Democrats' nomination in the 6th Senate District. In previous years, he had supported the Democratic incumbent, Thomas Bozek.

``I never made any bones about supporting Don. I felt he was the better candidate,'' Jortner said.